Tag: movies

Why yes, I am feeling smugly pleased with myself…I managed a whole day of revision and even caught up with my plan for where I had wanted to be at the end of today. *does small happy dance*

As I’m sure you’re not interested in a comparison of humanistic psychology versus psychoanalysis, nor the various different psychological perspectives on sex and gender, nor indeed the different perspective takes on language (did you know the honeybee does a waggle dance to communicate information about pollen resources in remote locations?), I thought instead I’d talk about Sherlock Holmes.

As in the film with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law, and directed by the bloke who used to be married to Madonna (AKA Guy Ritchie). I watched it in two parts (the first on the way to Mauritius and the second on the way back – this mostly had something to do with my failing to time it right on the way out).

It was very good. Violent in a no-holds barred, blood and skin kind of way which doesn’t dress up that punches hurt which you’d expect from a Ritchie film. Very Holmes in storyline.

I loved this take on Holmes which strikes me in terms of Holmes himself as very true to the original literary creation although I think the relationship with Watson has been reimagined somewhat into a more House and Wilson type “best buddies thing” alongside the Watson playing straight foil for Holmes’ brilliance (Wilson for House). I can’t remember the former vibe of “blood brothers” being in Arthur Conan Doyle’s version (although it has been a long time since I read them). I’m waiting to see how long it takes someone to do the same thing to Poirot and Captain Hastings. It was definitely a buddy-buddy movie so no surprise that the women were relegated to love interests although both proved strong and immensely likeable in terms of their characters (Irene getting the better of Holmes and leaving him naked and handcuffed to the bed was very funny). Again, I can’t remember enough of Doyle’s Holmes to make a comparison so I’m definitely in a mood to see if I can hunt down some of the original fiction to read. And in an effort to be culturally questioning…well, no. There’s no real racial balance at all in the film. All the principle characters are white but then in terms of social history and the placement of the story timewise, that’s not really surprising. At any rate, it’s an enjoyable romp if not taken too seriously, and I recommend it.